urren : C t R gy e o s l e o r a r d c y h H Hydrology Krishan, et al., Hydrol Current Res 2016, 7:1 Current Research DOI: 10.4172/2157-7587.1000227 ISSN: 2157-7587 Research Article Open Access Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Drinking Purpose by Using Water Quality Index (WQI) in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli Districts, Uttar Pradesh, India Gopal Krishan*, Surjeet Singh, Kumar CP, Garg PK, Suman Gurjar, Ghosh NC and Anju Chaudhary National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee-247 667, Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding author: Dr. Gopal Krishan, Scientist-C, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee-247 667, Uttarakhand, India, Tel: 09634254939; E-mail: [email protected] Rec date: Jan 21, 2016; Acc date: Feb 11, 2016; Pub date: Feb 20, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Krishan G, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract A water quality index (WQI) numerically summarizes the information from multiple water quality parameters into a single value that is understandable and usable by the public. This information can be used to assess spatial and temporal variations in overall water quality. However, these indices are time and region specific and may be influenced by local factors. Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh are situated in Ganga-Yamuna doab of fertile alluvium of Indo-gangetic basin where the demands for surface water and groundwater are growing with rapid increase in agricultural and industrial activities. In the present study, water quality index is worked out to assess the spatial variation of groundwater quality status for future planning and management of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts using WQI. Data of 104 groundwater samples covering the whole districts have been used. The Water Quality Index has been computed using five parameters viz., pH, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Hardness, Chloride and Sulphate. The WQI results show that the overall water quality class is ‘good’ and water is acceptable for domestic use. Keywords: Water quality index; Groundwater Muzaffarnagar; groundwater of these districts in future. Groundwater quality of these − 2 − Shamli; Uttar Pradesh; Indo-Gangetic plains districts shows high concentrations of Cl and SO 4 that are generally due to anthropogenic activities, which may be local in nature [8]. Introduction Though water quality evaluations were done by Tyagi et al. [30] in Increasing demand for domestic and irrigation purposes and the area but Water Quality Index (WQI) was not developed. Keeping imprudent use of groundwater has put its sustainability in danger due this in view, the present work carried with the overall objectives (i) to to its continuous depletion and deterioration of quality in northwest assess the suitability of groundwater for drinking purpose, as per the India [1-13] and Indo-Gangetic basin [14-16]. The water quality guidelines reported by Singh et al. [31] in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli evaluations have been carried out by various researchers in various districts, Uttar Pradesh, India computing Water Quality Index (WQI) parts of India using different methods [17-23]. Generally, water tool, (ii) to categorize the groundwater quality samples for drinking samples are analysed for a number of water quality parameters to purpose. assess its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes. A water quality index (WQI) numerically summarizes the information easily from multiple water quality parameters into a single value that can be used to assess spatial and temporal variations in overall water quality. The WQI has been developed for surface water by many researchers [24-28] but the efforts are being made to work out these indices for the groundwater also in Indo-Gangetic plains and has already been computed for Haridwar district of Uttarakhand [29]. The Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh are situated in Ganga-Yamuna doab of fertile alluvium of Indo-gangetic basin and are bounded by Saharanpur district in the north, Haridwar district of Uttarakhand in the northeast, Bijnor district in the east, Meerut district in the south and river Yamuna separates it from the adjoining state of Haryana in the west. The eastern boundary of the Figure 1: Location map of study area. districts with Bijnor district is formed by river Ganga. The districts occupy the northern part of Ganga-Yamuna basin with Ganga being in the east and Yamuna in the west of the districts. The Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts have many industries generating considerable toxic effluents which might contaminate Hydrol Current Res Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 1000227 ISSN:2157-7587 HYCR, an open access journal Citation: Krishan G, Singh S, Kumar CP, Garg PK, Suman G, et al. (2016) Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Drinking Purpose by Using Water Quality Index (WQI) in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli Districts, Uttar Pradesh, India. Hydrol Current Res 7: 227. doi: 10.4172/2157-7587.1000227 Page 2 of 4 Study Area Overall Water Quality Index (OWQI) has been developed for surface water by Singh et al. [31] which can also be used for The study was carried out in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of groundwater also [33]. Uttar Pradesh. Shamli district was carved out from Muzaffarnagar district in 2011 and the study area lies between 29°01’50”-29°44’20”N As reported by Singh et al. [29,31] to gauge the influence of each latitude and 77°02’-78°07’E longitude (Figure 1). Muzaffarnagar and individual parameter on a common single scale, the score generated by Shamli districts has total geographical area of 4080 km2 i.e., 2810 km2 each parameter was averaged-out. The following weighted average of Muzaffarnagar comprising of 4 Tehsils and 1070 km2 of Shamli aggregation function has been used for this purpose. comprising of 2 Tehsils. The study area has an average daily maximum temperature of 40°C and average daily minimum temperature of 24°C, (1) average relative humidity is 67% and normal rainfall is 753 mm with � Where��� = w = weight�� . �of� the ith water quality parameter and Y =sub- 80% of rainfall occurring in monsoon season (June-September) [32]. i � = 1 i index value∑ of the ith parameter (As reported by Singh et al. [31] sub- The area is characterized under Indo-Gangetic alluvium group of soils indices functions are basically the equations that transform the and is represented predominately by loamy soils. concentration ranges into the index score through mathematical CGWB [32] reported that depth to water level in the study area equations. These scores are then further converted to a common scale varies between 3.20-9.95 m during pre-monsoon and 2.50-7.95 m in based on their relative importance to impact the quality of water. These post-monsoon with fluctuation varying from 0.70-2.00 m. The stage of sub-indices function are developed based on the water quality groundwater development is 82%. standards and their concentrations to meet in particular range. For this purpose, mathematical expressions were fitted for each parameter to Methodology obtain the sub-index equations). For computing Water Quality Index (WQI), the groundwater Based on the status of water quality data, the index value ranges quality data of 104 sampling points (77 sampling points in from 0 to 100 and is classified into five categories: heavily polluted Muzaffarnagar district and 27 sampling points in Shamli district) (0-24), poor (25-49), fair (50-74), good (75-94) and excellent (95-100). covering both the districts (Figure 2) given by Tyagi et al. [30] was The status of water corresponding to different WQI values is presented used. For calculating the Water Quality Index (WQI), the methods in Table 2. If the index goes down, then it indicates that some of the followed by Singh et al. [31] have been employed. In the present study, water quality parameters are beyond permissible ranges due to some 5 parameters have been considered to compute WQI. However, particular reason and suitable measures are needed to improve the considering large number of parameters results more reliable for quality of water. Thus this index may be used as a guiding rule in prediction of WQI but in the present work limited numbers of management of quality of water resources. Various sub-indices parameters available as pH, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Hardness, functions and descriptive details are given by Singh et al. [29,31] and Chloride and Sulphate. The water quality index was calculated using have not reported here. quality rating scale and accordingly assigning the weight values to the S No Parameter Weight Standards (IS-10500) selected parameters. The standards of the water quality parameter are Factor governed as per BIS: 10500-2012 and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) standards and their respective weight used in the present 1 pH 1 6.5-8.5 study are highlighted in Table 1. 2 Total Dissolved Solids 3 500-2000 (mg/l) 3 Total Hardness (mg/l) 1 300-600 4 Chloride (mg/l) 1 250-1000 5 Sulphate (mg/l) 2 25-1000 Table 1: Assignment of significance weight to the water quality parameter [29,31]. Class WQI Value Status of Water Heavily Polluted 0-24 Unsuitable for All Purposes Poor 25-49 Special Treatment (Special Treatment) Fair 50-74 Needs Treatment (Filtration & Disinfection) Good 75-94 Acceptable Figure 2: Map showing sampling locations in Muzaffarnagar and Excellent 95-100 Pristine Quality Shamli districts, Uttar Pradesh. Table 2: WQI and corresponding class and status of water quality [29,31]. Hydrol Current Res Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 1000227 ISSN:2157-7587 HYCR, an open access journal Citation: Krishan G, Singh S, Kumar CP, Garg PK, Suman G, et al.